A rose that blooms in ashes
by Kassandra21
Summary: A semi-alternate ending for the story of the manga, inspired by the last chapter, elaborating on the decision of Yuuki and Zero to stay together. One-shot.


**A/N:** **This is a story inspired by the last chapter of the Vampire Knight manga. I must say I am not really satisfied with the ending... Usually I like how manga end because there is a resolve, an actual ending. But this one was kind of confusing and a little dull... I am team Zero so I guess I should be happy Yuuki ended up with him, but first of all he dies and second, we never get to hear her tell him she actually loves him, which kind of sucked, because she did.. Even if she did have feelings for Kaname still. Also I don't like how it ended for Kaname. I mean he's not my favorite character but I don't hate him either. In my opinion, he had lived his days, maybe too many of them, and he just needed to go...Being made to live a short few years alone, without Yuuki and knowing that she died for him, seems kind of cruel to me.. Even if he did deserve it to some point.. Anyway. This is my semi-alternate ending, elaborating on Yuuki and Zero's final revelation. In my version Kaname vanishes into dust, so he rests in peace for ever and in my mind, Zero dies many many years later, maybe in a battle or something and Yuuki frees herself, perhaps turning someone dear to them who wishes it into a human and following him or something... The #1 means I have some more alternate endings on my mind but they will probably be a lot grimmer than this one...**

**The Rose that blooms in ashes**

Yuuki stood there.. Warching him fade away... The man that had saved her life. The man that she had given her life to for the past months.. Her brother.. She saw him turn into dust... After he had given her his blessing to be with the man she had loved all her life... Her other half... Yes, she knew now.. She had known for the past year that she had spent away from him.. Constantly thinking of him... Bringing the taste of his kiss in her mind... She knew it was not friendly affection she had felt for him.. It was not brotherly love for the broken boy that she had grown up with.. It was love... True and undoubted love..

She should have known.. She should have known by the agony... The desparate fear of losing him... The painful feeling that tore her apart whenever he looked at her as an enemy... Those rare times... No, she always knew he never hated her... Not for a second. Not even close... Although he could, no, he should have.. She was the main instrument of his misery... Not only because she denied his love and stayed with Kaname, but also because she was the reason her brother had done all those terrible things to him and his family. It was so that Zero would become a perfect weapon in order to create a perfect world for her... Not even then, when the excruciating truth of his life was revealed.. He didn't hate her.. He didn't hunt her.. He just deeply and trully loved her...

And that gloomy afternoon at the academy..The day they were separated for what she thought would be forever... When he finally revealed his true feelings for her and all she was left to think of for the rest of that pathetic year was the taste of his lips...That's when she realised.. She loved him too.. Honestly.. Deeply... Passionately.. Not like a friend.. Not like a brother, but like a lover, like a partner, like her match... They were always great together... As perfects, as warriors, as vampires... A perfect team.. A perfect match.. She knew that no matter what the legacy of the Kuran family or the pureblood vampires said, the reason she had come to this world was him.. So that she would see his violet eyes, touch his white skin, feel his fangs piercing her neck, stroke his silver hair and soothe his pain...

Then why? Why did she feel so guilty? Guilty That she could get her chance with Zero? Why did she feel like an awful person? Why did she feel she didn't deserve that happiness? That reward? Was it because Kaname had to die to make that possible? Was it because she felt all the burden of the events that had lead them to this moment falling on her shoulders? Yes! That was it. She was responsible for everything.. Her parents' death, Kaname's resolve to change the world she lived in, his death and Zero... Zero's pain and misery.. It was all her fault... She didn't deserve him.. No one in this world did.. A creature as imperfectly wonderful as him. He was an angel in this world of misery and torture... Feelings he had to endure to their worst and most intense form.. And he did.. He endured them enough for himself and for her..

"Zero" she wispred faintly as Kaname was fading away in her lap. Zero turned and looked at her with his beautiful eyes sunk in sorrow and said nothing.

Then she suddenly jolted from her position. She had heard the sounds of battle, of death underneath them.. Zero's weapon had almost completely faded into nothingness.. The other hunter weapons would soon follow... She looked at Artemis. She was still intact.  
With a swift move she lifted herself from the ground and jumped on the staircase descending it at her full speed.

"Yuuki!" she heard him call her from behind. But she couldn't be stopped. Not anymore. She couldn't let this madness continue.. In this world.. This world Kaname had tried to create for her.. This world she could have lived in with Zero... She felt responsible for this world now.. She had to make things right. Humans, Vampires.. They all lived in it.. And they all hurt, and loved, and felt... The dream of a world ridden of pain was delusional of course. She knew that. But at this moment of total clarity... She had to do all she could.. Right there and then.. She had to stop the war, stop the death...

"STOP!"

She yelled with all her might as she found herself in front of the Association gate, facing the heart of the battlefield... They were all there.. Hunters and Vampires... Not divided as such.. The hungry purebloods, hissed at her with their poisonous hatred... Her, the little human girl who turned out to be the Kaname pureblood princess and the reason they were all in that situation.. They hated her... All of them... They wanted to tear her appart. They blamed her for everything. She was their scapegoat. She preapred Artemis for battle. She was ready to die there... She wouldn't let them get to him... He didn't have his weapon anymore.. /_Please Zero...Run._./ she thought foolishly. Deep down inside her heart she knew... He'd never run.

Suddenly she felt Artemis twitch. She should have expected that.. Along with the other hunters' weapons she too was dying.. Yuuki didn't move a muscle. She just stayed there waiting.. Waiting for death. Perhaps it would be redemption if she died there, like that, in the hands of those that were entangled in same web she was entangled in..

"In the end there was nothing I could do for this world... Or for him" she whispered as she stood there. Suddenly, she felt the earth moving under her feet and heard a buzzing, deafening sound. Surprised, she turned around to see the walls of the Assiociation crumbling and from the cracks, there were... branches... Huge thorny branches extending from every part of the building.. She looked upwards and there he was... Zero...

Of course... How would he ever leave her uprotected? How would he ever leave her to fight alone? Had he ever done it? No. He was her partner.. Her other half.. Her perfect match. But how? How could he still be the Bloody Rose? She saw it fading to dust just after Kaname's death.

Kaname! Of course.. His heart had given the hunters' weapons newfound power.. Maybe even greater than before. And he was one of those weapons.. The strongest one. Yuuki's heart stopped as he landed next to her, his skin being somewhat pierced from the rose thorns extending from the core of his body.. He looked divine.. A creature out of that ugly world... A rose... She looked at him.. Her eyes were dark, but her heart felt.. Relief... Relief that she could see him again.. That he was there with her..Even like that.. In the convenient distance that always separated them.. Even at that moment of complete chaos and desperation she could not contain that feeling.. The feeling of anticipation... Anticipation to feel him closer... Like that night.. The night with the masks... When all her built up feelings had surfaced and found their way to his lips... To his arms..That hungry pain that was eating her up.. All her life was a race.. A hopeless race to get to him.. To finally find him..

He looked at her, straight in the eyes... With those eyes, always full of pain, eyes ripened by the constant tortures he had to endure... Still they were always full of love, full of worry for her.. Sometimes they looked like a child's desperate eyes.. Pleading... Not for her love.. Yuuki was sure he had given up on claiming her.. But for some peace.. A peace he once told her only she could give him... Oh how she longed to give him that peace... To just hold him and help him forget... But how could she? Could his wounds ever be healed? How can someone so shuttered become whole again.. And who was she to do it...

"Yuuki" he said his eyes now strict. "I'll handle this" he declared and jumped right in front of her. Her heart skipped a beat every time he said her name...

"No! I'm staying! I'm fighting by your side". She wasn't going to leave him. They were a team.

But Zero wouldn't take no for an anwer. "Stupid girl..." he called her but his tone wasn't angry at all. He looked at her again with those eyes. And before she had the time to react, a huge pillar of thorny branches formed under her and lifted her in the air, taking her far away from the battlefield. She looked around. Zero's branches were so long and dense it was surprising. Never before had the bloody rose been so strong. So fierce. So obviously invincible...

She just stayed there.. Watching in awe as he launched his attack against the purebloods and their Level-E pets. He was unstoppable. None of them stood a chance.. Sarah, Touma.. They all went down one by one.. And when there was nothing left, when there was only dust, his branches slowly pulled her down until her feet touched the ground. He was still there, kneeled.. Panting... Having single-handedly ended the battle, he was exhausted, but still, he slooked up at her. She looked back at him. Without a second thought she run and kneeled next to him. His head was now facing the ground.

"Are you alright, Zero?" she asked as she softly placed his head to rest on her shoulder, as she had done so many times before. His scent was relieving, every time... That nostalgic scent...

"Yuuki-chan! Zero-kun!" Chairman Cross' voice echoed in the silence that had surrounded them. He run to them and enveloped them both in a suffocating hug, kneeling right next to them.

"I'm so glad you're ok my precious children". He lifted them both, putting Zero's arm around his neck for support. He looked at some of the branches still extending from his body.

"In the end... Kaname did the right thing..." he said with sorrow reflecting in his voice. He was against it until the last moment but now he had come to terms with it.. Kaname's resolve, his decision.. It was for the best.. And he needed it.. He had completed his circle as an existence... Now he could finally rest in peace. Yuuki knew that too.. However she couldn't contain the tears.. That it had to come to this..

"Come on now Yuuki-chan.. Let's go get some rest. I've arranged for a car to take us to the academy.." He said softly.

...

All the way to the academy Zero and Yuuki did not exchange one word. He was obviously exhausted by the battle and she was still a bit shocked from Kaname's death. Only at times, when she wasn't looking, he would turn and look at her with those sorrowful eyes of his, hoping for her suffering to fade away...

As they reached the academy, he seemed to have recovered a little. He was a vampire after all. This night might have taken a toll on him, but he was still too strong. The first thought in her mind was to offer her blood to him... But he looked so distant, as if he had been avoiding her. After what Kaname had said, that they should be together.. It seemed as if he had distanced himself from the idea.. Yuuki was trying to explain that.. But then again, she probably had similar thoughts... Maybe Zero... Maybe he was sceptical about their new life being built on the ashes of her dead brother and lover...

Yuuki herself wasn't sure...But that distance... Not even one word.. Now that the heat of battle had cooled off and they were both there, alive, safe, in the academy... The place where everything had started... The place where their lives had been irreversibly bound together... Where she had tended to his wounds... Where he had held her hand... Where he had kissed her for the first time... The place where they had lived as children... They had loughed and cried, quarelled and fought together... They were both there... In a world recovering from a smashing truth...

...

Yuuki was sitting in the Chairman's office, alone, when she heard the door behind her. She didn't have to turn around.. She knew it was him.. She could smell him, sense him from afar... No one felt like him...

"Zero" she uttered without turning around.

"Yuuki..." he almost whispered "I have to tell you.. You have to know... Now that I have released myself from my shackles... It's not because of what he said... I'm not running away anymore...I would have fought for you... Even if he lived... I'm through smothering my feelings for you Yuuki.."

He paused. She felt him walking closer. Her heart had stopped, Everything he said... The words that were coming out of his mouth.. They made her whole body shiver.. She was completely frozen, overwhelmed by the sincerity, the purity, the shuttering truth in his words. This was Zero, speaking like this... The Zero who always suffered alone.. The Zero who endured the pain, the anger, the need for vengeance, the self-loathing, the unrequited love... Her Zero...

Yes he was hers..Everything about him.. His pain.. A damage that had been eating him inside unbeknownst to her... The pain she had set to ease even when she knew almost nothing about it... His soul, his existence had passed though to her with that pain.. His tears, his blood, his sorrowful eyes, his silver hair, his vampire insticts, his bloody rose, his sad and gloomy moments... He was all hers...

Yet she was frozen there... Before him. Before the creature that was her fulfillment... Her chance for atonement.. Her destination in this life... The creature she had bonded with against fate and plan... And she couldn't even say a word to him...

"You too... Should stop running away... You should stop hiding Yuuki.. Stop hurting yourself..."

He paused and with a less confident tone he continued.

"It's fine. Take your time.. To think about it. I know you'll have a lot to deal with.. I know you blame yourself..." he paused again.

"You shouldn't!" his voice was almost desperate now. He was trying to get through to her.. He was trying to make her release herself like he had just done. To rid herself of the guilt that tortured her. Now he was really letting go. Ha approached her from behind and held her tight. Hugged her like he often did... This familiar warmth of his, made Yuuki's heart pound like it was going to fly out of her. All the built up tension of that day, of the past few months, of her whole life, had created such a huge burden on her heart and she was ready... She was ready to let it go...

"All this... Let it go Yuuki! Say you'll come with me! I can't hide anymore.. I... I love you. You know it.. You can smell it in every cell of my body... Please Yuuki, say it... Before I turn into dust from starvation... Because only you.. Only you can save my poor damned soul from oblivion.. Only your sweet smile... Your soft touch... Your kind hands, stroking my hair... Only you can make me sleep nightmareless nights Yuuki... You are the only sunshine in my pathetic darkness... Only you can make me forget my pain and hope.. You are the only true thing in a world of lies... The precious girl... She never died... You're here... I won't punish myself anymore by denying you.."

Yuuki's eyes were filled with tears.. A small smile started appearing on her lips... The tears were flowing warm on her cheeks... All of her existence.. Everything she was, was coming out in those tears... She turned around and looked at his eyes... His incredibly beautiful, pleading, childish eyes... She lifted her hand and placed it softly on his cheek and wiped a small tear that had formed over it...

"My precious Zero... I've felt so guilty... So scared.. So ashamed... So weak.. So many ugly, tormementing feelings... They have soaked my soul and darkened it... The soul of the pureblood princess... But you... Only you can make me feel... Real... Only with you Zero... With you I am always Yuuki Cross... Only with you have I been trully happy... You're the one who's given me all those precious memories... The man I wanted to treasure... Those pure beautiful feelings.. With you I felt strong, I felt loved, needed, I felt the honest need to protect someone.. I never felt the need to hide with you Zero.. I never felt like a weak little child.. Every time I gave you my blood I felt released... I felt I was doing something honestly good... Maybe not right...But that was fulfilling for me... For puny old me to be able to help you even like that... And our time together... Those were the years I was me... Really me.. And you were the one who held my hand.. The one waiting for me to sleep when I was ill.. The one to pick up the pieces of every little thing I broke clumsily...And now you're here to pick up my pieces... And make me whole again.. And not because he said it.. But because I do..."

With the tears still flowing she put both her arms around his neck, looked straight into his eyes and hugged him with all the stength in her body...

"I love you Zero" she whispered in his ear.

"I don't know if there's a reason why we come on this earth... But if there is... Then you're mine.."

All the pressure she had gathered inside her.. All those years... All those painful struggling years, were released from her soul right at that moment, when he held her in his arms...When he tightened his grip on her... Like he was never letting go.. And he wasn't.. She was so close to his heart, she could hear it beating like crazy... Not because of her vampire insticts, but because she felt it.. She felt his angst and hers leaving them, both in that moment of complete clarity and honesty.. She was crying with her whole body, trembling in his arms. He was crying too... All the secrets, all the lies, all the pain.. They vanished in that moment.. Their tears washed everything away, purified and cleansed them of every sin... They had nothing to regret anymore...

...

After a few minutes, when they had both recovered a bit from the tension of that night's revelation he took her face in his hands and looked her deep in the eyes.

"You know this is not going to be easy right?" he said.

"Yes..." she answered...

"Of course I do..."

"You're.. you're a pureblood and I'm a former human.." He looked down in sorrow

"I mean you're eternal and I'm... just temporary... I will be ok drinking your blood but... will you be ok with mine?... And if someday I have to go... Will you have to live the rest of your days alone?"

"Your blood is the only blood that can quench my thirst Zero" now she put her hands on his cheek bringing his face closer to hers.

"And if the time comes for you to go... I will follow you..." she leaned closer to him and gave him a deep and sweet kiss on the lips..

"Even just one day with you like this Zero... Is enough..."


End file.
